| Change log entry 56970 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2015-04-08 12:15:58 UTC) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 48478 - submitted by 'monigeria' >> http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=5961 She says that the storyline isn't quite her cup of tea, but she can see how it "resonates" with what is called din6 ce1 naam4 电车男 ("train man") type of guys. The latter notion derives from Japanese densha otoko 電車男 (movie, TV series, novel, manga, etc.), which was very popular in Hong Kong. The din6 ce1 naam4 电车男 / densha otoko 電車男 ("train man") is akin to the zaak6 naam4 / taku otoko 宅男, i.e., otaku おたく/オタク.... online a lot of people desribe 电车男 as 特点是没有长相，没有好的工作，没钱，胆小怕事，懦弱，酷爱电玩和卡通玩偶 or 电车男是一位动漫人物 此人是一位100% 宅男....所以 电车男也等于宅男.... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor: That definition leaves out the key point that, in the story, 电车男 "gets the girl". It's like defining "Homer Simpson" as just "overweight male who enjoys eating". It's very hard to condense the nature of a pop culture character (which is what 电车男 is) into less than a dozen words. In referring to these characters, you rely on lots of people having watched the show. You can find a decent explanation of Homer in the Wikipedia article (2nd paragraph). But that's 73 words. Even the likes of Homer Simpson, Austin Powers and Shrek don't make it into English dictionaries. "Benedict Arnold" could perhaps go in a dictionary with a definition "traitor", but pop culture characters are too complex. People are better off reading about them in Wikipedia or watching the shows. "[Homer's] signature catchphrase, the annoyed grunt "D'oh!", has been included in [...] the Oxford English Dictionary" [Wp], but Homer himself has not. |
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# 電車男 电车男 [dian4 che1 nan2] /loser who loves video games and cartoons/ |